92 City areas power pilfering dens: KESC

KARACHI - The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has identified 92 areas of the City where the 'kundas are in abundance, under its campaign against the illegal use of power. Addressing the media, Chief Operating Officer Distribution Jan Abbas Zaidi said that the KESC had put up check metres at the PMTs in a number of katchi abadis and other suspected areas, and had been able to calculate the quantum of electricity being consumed through illegal means like 'kundas, tampering of metres and other such methods. Zaidi was accompanied by Ayesha Eirabie, director corporate communications, in the briefing. He said that lately the utility had received great support from the local nazims as well as the members of Parliament to draw a strategy to eliminate the illegal consumption of power. A wholesome conversion had been needed, from illegal use to the regularised system, at these places, he added. Zaidi also informed the media that the progress had been made towards improvement of KESCs infrastructure in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Shah Faisal Town, Gulberg and Lyari. The areas where 'kunda system have been dominated for the past many years include Mangopir, Banaras Colony, Metroval, various parts of Orangi Town, Lines Area, Liaquatabad, Old Sabzi Mandi areas, Essa Nagri, Quaid-a-Bad, Mansehra Colony, Sherpao Colony, Machar Colony, Kemari, Landhi, Malir, Korangi, parts of Baldia Town, Sachal Goth, Safora Goth and others. In first step, new feeders have been set up where general overloading had been hampering the smooth supply. Second was to fix new PMTs in case of extra load at the low-tension wires. Thirdly, in areas where power balancing was off or the voltage had been fluctuating, the circuits and cables had to be replaced and improved. Finally, the task of improving the quality of customer care, and decreasing the response time towards complaints, was to be carried out. He said the utility had been collecting all information in its database and the requirements had been updated, as to what kind of material like conductors or jumpers were to be needed and how many cable faults had been pending at various points. After the groundwork would complete, then the KESC would be holding meetings with town nazims to carry out a full-fledged improvement drive that was likely to complete by the middle of next month, he added. Giving out operational update, Zaidi said at 2:00pm on Saturday, the KESC had been supplying 2,187MWs of electricity against a similar demand, at zero loadshedding. It had been receiving 231MMCFD of gas from SSGC and 625MWs of power from Wapda. Maintenance work was underway at a 200KV PMT in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, a 50KV PMT in SITE area, and the five PMTs affected by the falling of a tree in North Nazimabad. The areas which had been normalised during the previous 24 hours included Block 7 of Federal B. Area, a housing project in Gulistan-e-Johar, Noor Mohammad Lashari PMT at Manghopir Road, a 250 KV PMT in North Karachi and the Al-Falah Masjid PMT, he added.